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What would be the temp differenence between 80 mm radiators and 120 mm?

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Sun_tzu617

Member
Joined
May 17, 2004
Location
Miami, Florida
I would go with a BIX(2x120mm) but i dont wanna mess with my case, cause i suck at cutting.......
So im deciding to go with 80mm types...
What would be the best radiator(radiators) with 80 mm fans....
Whats the difference in temperature between it and the BIX?

BUT... If i ever decide to go with 120 mm fans....
What tools would i need.....Any articles?
 
anybody?
I saw one guy that had 2x swiftech 80mm Rads, and they looked good....
Maybe he can shed some light on it?
 
Sun_tzu617 said:
BUT... If i ever decide to go with 120 mm fans....
What tools would i need.....Any articles?

Dremel....when i started modifying my case to make my stuff fit, a dremel and the fiberglass cutting wheel is my best friend. Just plan where you want to put it, cut a square for the radiator. This was my first cut ever and it looks pretty good to me. If I can do it, anyone, and i mean anyone can do it.

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v284/dj_netboy/DSC00714.jpg
 
Well, there will be a temp difference. If you're not putting out more than 120watts of heat a couple BIM rads will work fine, but as always it's up to the person buying it.
 
This must be what you are referring too.

Liquid_Cooling_002b.jpg


As listed in my sig I'm cooling a P4 3.0E which runs a lot hotter than the P4 C's plus it is overclocked to 3.6 I'm also cooling the NB and VGA all in the same loop. I'm getting CPU temps of 41c Idle and 45c-49c max. I think those temps are great considering It is a P4E and I live in Southern California where it stays hot. My room temps are always in the upper 70's and 80's Fahrenheit with AC on or off. The rads are doing an adequate job.

I’m about to build my dream case in a week or so from now. I’m going to use the same two 80mm rads in a similar position to cool the NB and VGA only. I’m adding a Black Ice Extreme II dual 120mm radiator to cool the CPU, I’ll keep you posted.
 
thats the one.... i wouldnt mind tat.... or teh BIX with some adapters.... who knows, im gonan start ordering within a month....
 
Well, the Swiftech rads and the BIMs look pretty good (they look very similar...), but you can ALWAYS do better with a bigger rad. With rads, bigger = better most of the time until the restriction becomes too much.

Maybe mount the rad externally? External Radbox? Or just put it on your desk sideways with the pipes running out of the case and an extension cable attatchment for your fans to connect to the 12v line of your PSU.
 
PROBLEM, i have a friend of mine that im building a copy of my next pc for.... hes paying me, of coruse... planning to go lan a lot.... ect...makes externals sorta hard in a seperate box.... but maybe mounted to the ouside of teh case... but that would look bad...
 
Its true that bigger equals better with a rad but the 80mm's do fine. Trust me. Have a fan blow hot air out of the case and you'll be happy with the 80mm's.
 
jeknx, i think im gonan go with the 120 mms' with teh 120 to 80 mm adapter.... so in teh future, i can always just make a 120mm hole, instead of buying a whole new rad...
 
Bill Adams tested the Thermochill series of radiators here, which includes an 80mm radiator, and a 120mm radiator.

For a pair of 80mm radiators and a good 80mm fan run at a tolerable 7V for noise, and assuming a total heat load of 80W (including the pump), you could expect water temperatures of around 7C above the radiator air intake temperature. Run the fans at a wailing 12V apiece (imagine two hair-dryers at once), and expect around a 4C rise.

For a single 120mm radiator with a single high speed 12cm fan on it run at a quiet 7V, you could expect water temperatures of around 5C above the radiator air-intake temperature. Run the fan at a noisy 12V, and expect around a 3C rise for the water temperature.

The noise of the fan on the 120mm radiator would be more tolerable lower pitched sound than the noise of the two fans on the 80mm rads though.

If you want really good cooling and quiet, you really have to move to either 2 x 12cm radiators, or a dual-12cm radiator, for which two of those high-speed fans run at a quiet 7V would offer the same level of cooling as the single 12cm radiator with a high-speed fan at a noisy 12v.
 
can i ask something? i know theres 120mm fans and 80mm but whats 12cm on radiators, if someone could point it out to me (yes im prett newbie to watercooling if u wondering)
 
I have two Swiftech 80mm rads in parallel, with Panaflo medium speed fans with 80mm fan bodies as shrouds, controlled by sunbeam fan controller.
Temps (always load because I fold!!) CPU 44 12v to fans, and temps around 48 with the fans turned down to about 7v.
Pic isn't the greatest but hope it helps.

If I had the room I would go two 120mm rads in parallel, and run the fans real low.
BTW I have since cleaned up the wire mess in there!
 

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hey jenkx what is your cxase, looks a lot like the antec SX1040BII case!~

Edit: also is better the tubeing the better the cooling and what liquid do you use?
 
If you can wait until after the weekend, I can probably give you a good idea. I am going from a BIM2 (2x80mm) to a HTF2-X Double (2x120mm).

The BIM2 has been running with 4 80mm's on it: 2x Switch 80x15mm front (for space reasons) and 2x Panaflo M1As on the back. This setup works very well and has been keeping CPU ~1°C cooler than case temps (29°C) with an 850MHz OC. Keep in mind the CM fan grills block A LOT of air, but look too good to get rid of ;)

Of course, I have now had the case long enough not to be as concerned about cutting into it a little more, hence the HTF2.

I am thinking like this: the HTF2 about triples the surface area over the BIM2, the 120mm fans (Evercool aluminum jobbies) flow about 25% more with 50% less fans (only using two of them). More surface area + more air flow = better cooling capacity and less fans = even less noise (not that it's noisy now). I have high hopes...
 
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